REVIEW-Olympics-Sailing-Australia sinks British hopes on home waters

Reuters

By Peter Smith

WEYMOUTH, England, Aug 13 (Reuters) - An era of Britishsailing dominance came to an end on home waters at the LondonOlympics as Australia stole the host nation's crown, winningthree of the 10 golds up for grabs.

Sailing, which lives in fear of being dropped from the Gamesbecause of the costs and the perception that it is not aspectator friendly sport, had all to play for at Weymouth andPortland.

It did not disappoint.

Spectators witnessed thrills, spills and somedisappointments with only Finn sailor Ben Ainslie able todeliver gold for the pre-Games favourites Team GB.

Ainslie's medal came by the slimmest of margins as the35-year-old's gritty determination and guile helped him becomethe most successful Olympic sailor ever with four golds and asilver in five Games.

His duel with Jonas Hogh-Christensen for the Finn title -held for more than half a century by the Dane's compatriot PaulElvstrom - was the most acrimonious of an otherwise largelyuncontroversial regatta.

Early concerns about the 10 gold medals being decided in afinal race after a series of 10 proved unfounded and the formatrewarded spectators with some thrilling racing.

Highlights included the Swedish duo of Fredrik Loof and MaxSalminen snatching victory from Britain's reigning championsIain Percy and Andrew "Bart" Simpson in the Star class with asuperb final sail.

The "Nothe" medal course, close to the shore to provide aperfect spectacle for the paying public, presented one of thetrickiest stretches of water even the most experienced Olympicsailors had navigated, with at times flukey winds making forsome unexpected results.

The U.S. failed to win a single medal for the first timesince 1936 as the squad continued the process of changing theway it trains to replicate the British model.

The spoils were shared among 15 nations with Cypruscelebrating its first Olympic medal in any sport for PavlosKontides, who won silver in the Laser single-handed class behinda dominant Tom Slingsby of Australia.

Australia's three golds and a silver relegated Britain tothird with one gold and four silvers behind Spain, whose womentake home two golds in the windsurfing and the match racing.

The Netherlands won a gold in men's windsurfing and theother golds were won by Sweden in the Star, China in the women'sLaser Radial and New Zealand in the women's two-handed 470.

Several Olympic veterans will not be making the voyage toRio de Janeiro and some of the boats were raced for the lasttime in an Olympic championship.

The Star, designed in 1910, and the largest and heaviest ofthe classes is being decommissioned, unless bronze medallistsRobert Scheidt and Bruno Prada of Brazil can persuade theInternational Sailing Federation (ISAF) to grant the keelboat areprieve.

Another change at the Brazilian Olympic sailing venue ofGuanabara Bay in 2016 will be the introduction of kitesurfing,which takes over from windsurfing.

The decision has been challenged by the windsurfing classassociation, but gold medallist Dorian Van Rijsselberge of theNetherlands and silver medallist Nick Dempsey of Britain havealready said they are switching to kiteboarding.

"Mixed doubles" will also feature, closing the gender gap,with the inclusion of the multi-hull two person Nacra 17 class.

While on-board cameras made for some great action TV footage,they were not universally popular among the sailors, with somecomplaining they got in the way.

Despite this, there have been calls for more technology tohelp umpires and juries, with some suggesting the use of videofor starts and finishes in 2016.

"The sport is advancing probably faster than the umpires andtechnology involved," Ian Ainslie, chief coach of the Dutchteam, told Reuters.

"You see them having to make a call on a split secondincident which could change the nature of the result totally."